The murder trial of a Jacksonville man accused of killing two passengers in a drunk-driving crash last year is set to open today.

Christopher Cash, 27, of Wilmington Highway, is charged by the N.C. State Highway Patrol with driving while impaired and two counts each of second-degree murder, felony death by motor vehicle, felony serious injury by vehicle, felony hit and run causing serious injury, failing to give aid to passengers and failing to report an accident.

Authorities said Cash left a bar on Old Maplehurst Road with four passengers in a 1997 Volkswagen Jetta. He crashed the car on Pony Farm Road around midnight on Jan. 7, 2012, according to authorities.

Cash is accused of causing the deaths of two of his passengers, 49-year-old Jerry James Jackson and 24-year-old Kevin Nigel Embles. Both were ejected from the car and landed in the street. Neither man was wearing a seatbelt, according to the Highway Patrol.

Cash is also accused of causing injury to his fiancee Chauntelle Leigh Wann and brother Jeffery Cash, both of whom were treated and later released from area hospitals.

Cash left the wreckage on foot and later took a cab to Onslow Memorial Hospital to check on Wann and his brother. Cash was taken into custody at that time.

Assistant District Attorney J.B. Askins is prosecuting the case for the state. Cash is represented by Jacksonville lawyer Stuart Popkin.

Pretrial motions and proceedings are scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m.

Contact Daily News Senior Reporter Lindell Kay at 910-219-8455 or lindell.kay@jdnews.com. Follow him on Twitter and friend him on Facebook @ 1lindell.